The first apprenticeship programme for older adults will be unveiled today as John Denham, the skills secretary, announces a massive expansion of training schemes.

He will promise to increase the total number of apprenticeships from 250,000 to more than 400,000 by 2010/11 as part of the government's plans for skills and learning.

Thirty thousand of those places will be targeted at adults aged over 25, in a £90m scheme designed both to give the unemployed a second chance, and to help workers into better jobs.

"For millions of people, the truth is that skills and learning are the key to improving their lives - whether getting into and on at work, improving job prospects, or simply putting more money into their pockets," Denham will say.

"It has been said that for the country to remain globally competitive, one in two of us will have to retrain or re-skill. But this programme is about much more than just the economic competitiveness of the country. It is about raising aspirations, improving life chances and strengthening our families and communities."

Although the government has stressed the importance of adults moving from welfare to work in boosting family incomes, outside experts have argued that the quality of those jobs is crucial. The majority of the 3.8 million children living in poverty in Britain are in households with at least one working adult.

Total spending on learning and skills will rise from £11bn this year to £12.3bn in 2010/11. But while that 12% increase is modest in real terms, Denham is focusing the budget on adult training with a 17% increase in the money spent on over-18s.

David Willetts, the shadow skills secretary, said: "The real problem in expanding apprenticeships is the limited number of employers who wish to take them on. They are put off by the costs and the bureaucracy, but there is nothing in this announcement to tackle that problem."